It’s that time of year again. The flowers are up, the birds are out and the bears are waking up for the season.
There have been four bear sightings so far this year, according to the North Shore Black Bear Society: one in January in the Montroyal Boulevard area, and three reported earlier this month in the Lynn Valley area.
Christine Miller, education co-ordinator for the bear society, said it’s likely the bears were looking for a pre-wake-up snack.
“When they live closer to residential areas this kind of behaviour is more common. Closer to communities, they will sometimes step out, have a little snack and go back (to sleep),” explained Miller, who said although wake-up patterns vary from year to year, anytime after April 1 is generally when bears start coming out of hibernation.
“Last year the calls started coming in at the beginning of July, which was late, and the year before they started coming in a lot at the beginning of April, so it really varies,” said Miller. “I think typically you could say that anytime after April 1 we can expect to start seeing bears emerging.”
Miller advises residents to keep garbage, especially meat scraps for green bins, secured in containers in their garage until the day of pickup as a way to avoid bear encounters this season. For those without garages, she advises freezing scraps and not putting them out until the day of collection.
Bird feeders can also be a magnet for hungry bears looking to snack on the calorie-laden seeds, something Miller warns residents to rethink keeping in their yards this time of year.
“People should really be considering taking (bird feeders) down. Some people are just starting to bring them in at night time,” she said. “People are investigating ways to feed birds without putting out large bird feeders. You can buy smaller ones with trays underneath.”
When it comes to actual encounters with a black bear, Miller advises residents to stay calm and speak calmly while slowly backing away. She said that although most bears in the area are accustomed to people, there are always newcomers that are naturally wary of humans.
“The newcomers would be the offspring of other bears and they would have more of a natural wariness of people. But as bears spend more time near communities they lose that natural wariness.”
Anyone who spots or encounters a bear in their area is asked to contact the group at 604-990-BEAR (2327).
